The Three Little Pigs: An Architectural Tale

by Steven Guarnaccia

Overview

In this quirky, artsy retelling of “The Three Little Pigs,” the pigs and their homes are nods to three famous architects—Frank Gehry, Phillip Johnson, and Frank Lloyd Wright—and their signature homes. Each house is filled with clever details, including furnishings by the architects and their contemporaries. Of course, not all the houses are going to protect the pigs from the wolf’s huffing and puffing. Which one will? The wolf, and readers, are in for a clever surprise ending.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780810989412
Publisher:	ABRAMS
Publication date:	06/01/2010
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	58,089
Product dimensions:	9.20(w) x 13.10(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	3 - 5 Years

About the Author

Steven Guarnaccia is chair of the illustration department at Parsons the New School for Design. He is the author of several books for children and adults, including Goldilocks and The Three Bears: A Tale Moderne. He lives in Montclair, New Jersey.

Editorial Reviews

Guarnaccia (Goldilocks and the Three Bears: A Tale Moderne) models the familiar piggy homebuilders on Frank Gehry, Philip Johnson, and Frank Lloyd Wright. The three leave their mother’s home--a bungalow styled after Charles and Henry Greene’s Gamble House--to design their own structures. The Gehry pig (not yet the Gehry who designs swooping, iridescent pavilions) builds a 1970s style “house of scraps” that a spiky-haired, leather-jacketed wolf gladly deconstructs. The Johnson pig, identifiable by his black-framed spectacles, creates a glass house that the punk wolf reduces to shards. The pigs run to their brother’s house of “stone and concrete,” a Fallingwater look-alike that the wolf cannot budge. (If the wolf went after the cantilevering system, this tale might end differently.) Of the trio, Guarnaccia favors Wright, and the puckish architect outwits the wolf on several occasions. He plays to design fans, decorating the pigs’ homes with objects by the likes of Noguchi and Starck, and his endpapers provide a visual index to the allusions. Without a background in “starchitects,” though, children will need a design history lesson to appreciate this retelling. Ages 4-up. (June)

Publishers Weekly

This modern version of the familiar tale presents three nattily-dressed pigs equipped with architectural tools. The first little pig builds his house with scraps, the second with glass, and the third with stone and concrete. When the Evil Wolf asks the first pig to let him in, he gets the traditional reply. So he huffs, puffs, and blows down the house, sending the pig off to his brother. There again the wolf prevails, and the two run to the third pig's. The frustrated wolf asks that pig to meet him the next day, and the next. Tricked three times, the wolf finally climbs down the chimney, scorching his tail, and runs away so the pigs can live happily ever after. Although the story is traditional, attentive and savvy readers will note that the illustrations are not. The end pages display monochromatic drawings of thirty objects and buildings of contemporary design, with the names of their creators. These all appear in larger, full-color versions inside the story. Landscapes are rendered in a modernistic style; the wolf wears dark shades and motorcycle gear. The three pigs are created in a cartoony fashion to resemble the architects Frank Lloyd Wright, Phillip Johnson, and Frank Gehry, designers of houses like those of the pigs. The pages are filled with visual delights as readers spot the icons of modern design. Reviewer: Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz

Children's Literature - Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz

Porkers in glass houses shouldn't meet wolves. One day, the three impeccably dressed pigs tuck their drafting tools under their arms and leave their impressive house (the Gamble House, by Greene and Greene) in the woods, waving goodbye to Mother. The first builds a house of scraps (sheet metal and fence pieces and wood-it's the Gehry House); the second of glass (Philip Johnson's Glass House); the third of stone and concrete (Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater). Evil wolf, in boots, black leather jacket and shades, rides in on a motorcycle. He makes quick work of the first two houses, but the third proves challenging. Before wolf meets his end coming down the chimney, he and the third pig have a couple of encounters at Frank's Flea Market and Johnson's Farm that parallel the original tale. Guarnaccia's illustrations are quirky and stylish, incorporating notable 20th- and 21st-century architecture and interior design elements (the key is on the endpapers). His text lags the illustrations in hipness, though. And why, in this time of eco-consciousness, does he disdain the recycled house of scraps? (Picture book. 3-6)

Kirkus Reviews